SriLankan Airlines adds flights to southern India

SriLankan Airlines will launch services to three more southern Indian cities – Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Coimbatore – in July 2017, increasing to 14 the number of cities in the Indian market.

Flights to Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad and Coimbatore start on 8th, 12th and 16th July, the national carrier said in a statement.

SriLankan currently operates 108 flights per week to Chennai, Trichy, Trivandrum, Mumbai, New Delhi, Gaya, Madurai, Varanasi, Kochi, Bangalore and Kolkata, making it the largest foreign carrier into India.

“We are leveraging on our vast network in India to offer travelers to and from India increased opportunities to connect to our destinations throughout the Middle East, the Far East and the Indian Ocean region,” said SriLankan Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer Siva Ramachandran.

“The new routes would allow more Indian travelers to enjoy the experience of Sri Lanka’s many tourist attractions.”

India, the largest tourism market to Sri Lanka, accounted for 356,729 visitors to the island in 2016, and 110,891 in the first four months of 2017.

“We are also commencing daily non-stop services to Melbourne from October 29th this year, which will provide rapid connectivity between Australia and key Indian cities in our network,” Ramachandran said.